An atlantist with Putin in his heart. This is the contradictory portrait of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who in these hours is causing a scandal for some recordings of his comments on Putin and Zelensky that have ended up in the media.
Berlusconi says he re-established his friendship with Putin, from whom he received a “very sweet letter” and twenty bottles of vodka. He says that the Russian president was forced to intervene in Ukraine by the escalation of attacks ordered by Zelensky in the Donbass. He gives a negative opinion on the Ukrainian president and finally declares that there are no leaders in the West.
The statements by the former Premier come as work is being done on the formation of the new conservative government led by Giorgia Meloni, the president of the European Conservative and Reformist Party (ECR) which brings together the entire extreme right of the continent.
The response of the premier in pectore to Berlusconi was very harsh: those who do not accept the pro-Atlantic line in Ukraine will have no ministers, at the cost of not being a government.
Giorgia Meloni, in fact would appear that she also managed to get the approval of Washington months ago in case she would win the parliamentary elections (all polls gave her a winner). But on condition to maintains her position of loyalty to NATO together with the alliance with Ukraine against the aggression of the Russian Federation.
But for her allies, who suffer from the leadership of the young Italian politician, respecting these rules is not easy.
“La Lega” of Salvini is suspected of receiving illegal funding from Moscow and has entered into a political collaboration pact with Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party.
The launching of Silvio Berlusconi’s party (Forza Italia) and his arrival in government were supported by Washington after, in 1992, a judicial investigation known as “Mani Pulite” (Clean Hands) eliminated from the political scene the Christian Democracy and the Socialist Party which for decades had guaranteed the pro-Atlantic positioning of Italy.
Berlusconi was also one of the few Italian Prime Ministers invited to speak at the Congress of the United States where in 2006 he reaffirmed his loyalty to Washington in a speech interrupted by eighteen applause.
They were years when the administration of George W. Bush and the former Italian businessman (Berlusconi) acted in full harmony with the White House.
In those years, following the end of the USSR and the anarchy caused by the Yeltsin presidency, Washington was trying to bring the Russian Federation into the Western sphere of influence.
Thus, in May 2002, at the Italian Air Force base in Pratica di Mare, near Rome, where a collaboration agreement was signed between NATO and Russia. A historic photo that portrays the handshake between Bush, Putin and Berlusconi remains as a testimony of that meeting.
Berlusconi was also the first major Western entrepreneur to land on the new Russian market by investing, as a tycoon, in the television advertising sector. And who knows if, in the following years, relying on personal friendship with President Putin too, he did not increase his investments in the country.
Berlusconi’s sentence contained in the files released by the press “in the West there are no more leaders” seems today to be directed mainly towards President Biden. But why? In the eyes of Berlusconi, Biden is certainly guilty of having interrupted the policy of dialogue towards Russia initiated at the time of George W. Bush and then resumed by Donald Trump.
But Berlusconi must feel betrayed above all by the green light given by Washington to Giorgia Meloni who has now become not only the leader of the Italian conservative coalition (taking it over from Berlusconi), but also of having invested her with the role of Italian guarantor towards the United States and NATO, which had been exclusively his for thirty years.
Silvio Berlusconi is now 86 years old and appears profoundly marked by illnesses and judicial events that have also led him to forfeiture as a member of parliament in recent years (he still has trials underway for issues related to sex with a minor).
In the recent elections, his party won just 8% of the votes and is suffering a daily hemorrhage of parliamentarians in favor of the other right-wing parties. Persistent rumors speak of violent clashes taking place within Forza Italia where its leadership is also being questioned. The two files with his pro-Putin and anti-Zelenski phrases were recorded and released by a participant in a confidential meeting.
Thus, the ancient follower of Bush and Trump, feeling abandoned by Washington, turns to the friendly hand that is brought to him from Moscow.
The 5Stelle (Five Stars) Movement, which collects the anti-system pressures of Italian society in a populist key, is on pro-Putinian pacifist positions.
In essence, the two bastions of Atlanticism in Italy are today the far-right Brothers of Italy party (led by Giorgia Meloni) and the Democratic Party (made up of former Communists and former Christian Democrats).
Therefore, if the new government were to be composed on the basis of international alliances, it would therefore have to be composed of former Communists and former Fascists.
Read also: What next Italy?
